WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2005:
Nationwide rallies call for an end to mandatory detention

Thousands of people around Australia will take to the streets this Sunday to send a powerful message to Canberra: a 'change in culture' will not fix Australia's scandal-ridden immigration department; all on-shore and off-shore detention centres must be closed and all refugees must be granted permanent protection.

Organisers say the rallies will tap into a rising tide of public anger, bringing together those appalled by the cases of Cornelia Rau, Vivien Solon Alvarez, Peter Qasim and others, and refugee campaigners who have long argued such cases are an inevitable outcome of a system where the denial of basic human rights is institutionalised.

Victoria's Refugee Action Collective, which is organising Melbourne's rally, is expecting a large, colourful and noisy display of solidarity with refugees and asylum-seekers.

The rally will commence at 12 Noon, Sunday 19 June at the Melbourne Museum, Carlton Gardens (cnr Nicholson & Gertrude Streets). Hundreds of kites will be flown as symbols of hope and freedom; and as a reminder of the kites and balloons which were destroyed by police at the Baxter protest over Easter this year.

Protestors will march to join the Refugee & Asylum Seeker Festival organised by Multicultural Arts Victoria at the Fitzroy Town Hall.

Speakers will include Aladdin Sisalem (detained alone on Manus Island for 9 months), Aslam Kazimi (a Afghan Hazara refugee recently released from Nauru), Pamela Curr, from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Ingrid Stitt, State Secretary of the Australian Services Union, Steve Jolly, Yarra Councillor, and Nagamuthu Ramalingam Wickiramasingham from the Victorian Tamil Cultural Association.

A wide range of groups have endorsed the Melbourne rally, including Actors for Refugees, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Australians Against Racism, the Australian Education Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, the Electrical Trades Union, Labor for Refugees (Vic), the Maritime Union of Australia, Melbourne International PEN, Multicultural Arts Victoria, the National Council of Churches in Australia, the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, Socialist Alliance (Victorian Branch), Socialist Alternative, and the Victorian Trades Hall Council.

In Sydney, protestors will meet in Hyde Park and march to DIMIA's offices. Speakers at the Sydney rally include Dr Louise Newman, director of the NSW Institute of Psychiatry, Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, and Greens Senator, Kerry Nettle.

World Refugee Day rallies and protests are also planned for Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, and Adelaide.

For more information/interviews, contact:
Tim Petterson 0438 399 973
Lauren Ireland 0401 635 072